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Fighting malnutrition with special peanut butter formula

A child in Sierra Leone eats some of the specially formulated peanut butter.

By Rotary Voices staff

Severe acute malnutrition kills millions of children around the world every year. Those who don’t die often suffer from stunted growth and other health problems. More children between the ages of one and three die of inadequate food intake every year than from HIV/AIDS.

In Sierra Leone, Rotary members are partnering with more than 20 clubs in the United States and Canada to prevent some of these deaths by supplying jars of specially developed peanut butter, known as “Ready to Use Therapeutic Food,” to treat children suffering from malnutrition. The project, funded by a global grant from the Rotary Foundation, began in January of 2013 and is continuing through September.

The project is just one of many that Rotary members have shared recently on Rotary Showcase.

Other notable projects include:

Rotary members in Pansha, Bangladesh, held free medical camps to peform eye exams in December and February, treating more than 2,000 patients, providing free medicine, and performing 300 surgeries to remove cataracts.

In February, seasonal rain and cyclones caused major flooding in the capital city of Madagascar, leaving thousands homeless. Rotaract members collected donations and distributed bags of rice, water packs, boxes of noodles, shampoo, and fresh vegetables to help those displaced by the flooding.

Rotary members in Brazil used the WhatsApp to collect donations from Rotary clubs and friends, and working with a local private hospital, donated a wheel chair and hospital bed for a family whose daughter was disabled in a traffic accident.

Its novel idea to make such a fabulous nutritious product. Children from South East Asia would like it as peanuts are abundance in this part of the world. I suggest Rotary clubs from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh should take it up to introduce it for the school children.

Wonderful idea for most children but many children are allergic to peanuts. This is a serious and life threatening affliction. Just wondering if the children are tested for that before they are automatically fed this formula. Helen Reisler

Oddly enough, peanut allergies are virtually unknown in developing countries. They are only prevalent in countries with high standards of living, and are more and more common with higher incomes and more education. Interesting, no?